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Nothing much to add to this discussion really, other than it's been an interesting read! I can't see the future looking too bright for DBGTROTD and would agree with @JoshC. to be honest... can't see that it will open in 2020 at all. It would take quite some retheme to change it to something else minus VR. It has been, and is going to continue to be, a huge problem for the park. One thing I will say - and have always said - the show building exterior (generally), the pre-show, and above all else, the Victorian carriage exterior, the tube train interiors, the Underground station and the fake shop (minus the guy in the white t-shirt) are all pretty much world class - and I say that without a sense of irony at all. They've nailed those. It's just such a shame that the rest has always been a bit of a confused mess. Maybe that bodes well for keeping it and rehashing it to something else, I don't know. For it to be removed in it's entirity after the Derren IP expires, or before, would be unheard of - but I don't think it's out of the question. The money pot isn't never ending, and there comes a point where you have to admit defeat, especially with the added complication of coronavirus (and the very valid points about the storyline featuring corona symptoms, plus people probably not wanting doom and gloom when they can finally go to a theme park after all this has passed) - it's going to be morbidly fascinating what happens next.

Those measures are an utter utter nonsense. They are taking the physical spacing aspect of the advice without thinking about the reason for it or why it is effective. A 2m physical gap does not create some magical barrier the virus can not cross, it is just a workable compromise to total isolation which makes infection from one person to another less likely in every day situations like passing or talking in the street. Once you start moving at speed through each others space a small distance like that becomes meaningless; anything containing the virus expelled by someone in front will be showered over someone sitting two or four or six rows behind, they may as well be sitting in each others lap. It's so ineffective they may as well just fully open and accept the risk, or remain closed and properly mitigate the risk. Giving a false sense of safety is the worst possible thing to do.

Just gonna quote this so that we can look back in 2 year's time and see. (NB: I'm not saying it will be SBNO, but given the situation, there's a solid chance it will be...or even removed..)

I don't think I've seen anyone say a park "needs" themed areas to be a theme park. (Also every inch of Efteling is themed so I dont know what you mean there) Like you say it's all about enjoyment. What I mean is, Thorpe Park makes for a terrible immersive style Phantasialand theme park, whenever it tries and fails to be that, but as a more simple stylish, throwaway kinda theme park it could be great fun! (that's kind of how it was in the past as a family park anyway) Currently it's a very bad, not very enjoyable mish mash. The park is very grubby and uncool but tries to look slick and stylish. They try to force 'themed areas' and themed experiences when there aren't any, rather than focus on making the park look appealing or have any identity. A few surf boards and painted wood doesn't make a great park Some of the ride themes are ok on their own, but most are depressing, cheap and all shoved together in a weird mess I really don't know why they thought Derren Brown was a good idea for Thorpe, it was the last thing all that money needed spending on in my opinion.

Frankly it's impossible to see it - or any VR attraction - operating for the foreseeable future, so yes, it will be SBNO. After the Derren contract is up, who knows, but there's no such thing as being to young/new to be SBNO.

I don't buy the whole 'a park has to have themed areas to be a theme park'. If you work with that logic, then you have to call Efteling an "amusement park" instead of a "theme park", which does a great disservice to Efteling. These two terms aren't enough to encapsulate all types of parks in the world. More importantly though, does it matter? Whether it's a theme park or an amusement park, their core purpose is to have rides which people will enjoy. Both of those types of parks will know that some rides need to have theming to enhance their enjoyment, whilst some rides don't need theming to enhance their enjoyment. So in my opinion, it doesn't matter whether a park is one or the other, they'll do what's right. The likes of Swarm and Walking Dead are improved because of their theming. Stealth and Colossus probably wouldn't benefit much more if they had higher levels of theming. Sure, if Thorpe wanted to fully focus on being Disney/Phantasialand level of immersion they'd focus on rides which are improved when themed, but for a park like Thorpe, I really don't think it matters what they call themselves.

It certainly makes sense from a return on investment point of view. If there is any sort of season to be had this year people will be queuing up to get in without much encouragement this year after missing out for so long, so the investment would be wasted. Holding this back until next year when hopefully things are back to some sort of normal should get people through the turnstiles again and give them a return. I really hope it works for them.

The right decision even if it is the hardest decision. I feel for them but on the other hand, this is a long term investment. I'll be there 2021 to support them and we should all be there too. Just hope they can whether the storm (pun sort of intended) for another 12 months.